I am self-employed and work at home in San Francisco. I hate it. When I get up
in the morning, it's just too easy to stay in my pajamas, nibble on
breakfast, and read news or check my stock portfolio online until 9:00 or 10:00
in the morning because nobody is watching. My work and personal life blur
together, and at the end of a hard day my home feels hot and stuffy and in
disorder, just like airplanes get near the end of a 10-hour flight. But I
can't leave my work problems at the office and go home, because I am home.
I would take a small pay cut if my clients would give me a nice office space
with a reasonable commute. It's now possible to rent desks and cubicles in
downtown San Francisco (in a shared workspace) for around $400 or $500 a month,
and I'm seriously thinking about doing this. Telecommuting is a mixture of
plusses and minuses. Not everyone enjoys it.

I think if I had kids in daycare, I'd take a pay cut and work from home
instead of paying the thousands a year for someone else to look after them, but
I agree with the other comments that working from home would probably lower my
productivity.

I have worked from home for over 6 years and get the same amount of work,
actually more done since I don't have to out up with politics and drama.
Since I am more productive at home instead of the office, I should get an
increase in my salary, not a reduction simply because my backside isn't
warming a chair within visual range of my boss

I think it depends on the expectations whether productivity falls or not. I work
from home and my expectations are task oriented and take a minimum amount of
time to complete. In some ways I work harder than in an office, because I
can't chat with co-workers and there aren't any short breaks built in
like before. Because I'm on salary I have to work pretty hard to finish my
assigned tasks in a regular 40 hours. It is an unspoken expectation that my
contract will not be renewed each year if I do not complete quality work
either.

I do get paid a little less than my counterparts in the same
field, but to me having the flexibility and lack of commute that comes from
working from home is well worth it. I miss the face-to-face relationships I can
have with co-workers, but at the same time deal with a lot less politics. There
are definite pros/cons, but I'm happy with it :)